CONDOR. 405 
excluding Storr and Lacépéde, who long since, with so much 
reason, withdrew G'ypaétus from the genus, and not adverting 
to the artificial section made by Duméril in the year 1806, 
under the name of Sarcoramphus, for the stout-billed carun- 
culated species indiscriminately. The characters assigned by 
_ Illiger were precise and natural, and the species he cited as 
examples correctly typical. But Temminck, in adopting 
Illiger’s two genera, misapplied the characters and rendered 
them unnatural by declaring the Vultur percnopterus a 
Cathartes, whilst it is in fact a slender-billed Vultur, as 
the condor is a stout-billed Cathartes. Deceived by ‘Tem- 
minck, we at first adopted this erroneous view, which we have 
finally rectified in our observations on the second edition of 
the “ Régne Animal” of Cuvier. In returning to what we con- 
sider the principles of Illiger, as they certainly are the dictates 
of reason, it so happens that this genus Cathartes, as is often 
the case, is found to correspond to a geographical division, 
being exclusively American, whilst that of Vultwr is in like 
manner confined to the old continent. The other genera which 
have been proposed among the Vultwridw may be considered 
as groups of secondary importance. 
Thus the three Huropean species * belong, according to 
Savigny, to as many separate genera, namely, Gyps, Afgypius, 
and Neophron. The last, restricted to its proper limits, is a 
very well-marked subgenus, which we adopt under the name 
of Percnopterus, Cuvier. It contains to my knowledge but 
two well-ascertained species, which are the slender-billed vul- 
tures of the old continent. 
The other European vultures, with stout bills, are comprised 
in my subgenus Vultwr, composed often well-known species. 
But we must confess that the Vultur cinereus and Vultur 
Julvus differ materially, and that even their skeletons present 
differences that in other cases might be considered as even 
more than generic, while one uniform osseous structure is 
* Ruppel reckons four. He makes two of V, fulvus, considering the 
Chassefiente of Le Vaillant a distinct species. 
